June's Garden (2025)

The garden is in full production and this is the time when my new ideas and experiments can be judged to be a success or failure.

The best idea ever has been to put up a fence. It is AWESOME! Even without gates, the animal damage has been zero. We put it off for years because we feared it would be a difficult, time consuming and expensive project. We were right. It was even harder than we imagined due to supply chain problems but it has made a world of difference.

We weren't sure about the final location of each fence section because of unknown underground boulders. The tomatoes could not wait so were planted anyway.  They ended up being feet away from the fence. 

The distance apart in the back corner is even greater so stakes are supporting them just so they can reach the fence. This winter when the garden is empty, the rows will be realigned. It looks a bit wonky.

One great idea happened on a whim. At the grocery store last fall I picked up four shallots and planted them in this row beside winter onions. At first they all looked the same and I forgot about the test. At some point, the shallots began dividing and it became evident they were different. 

They continued to grow after the other onions were harvested and the Purple Hull Peas had been planted. They spread apart, became huge and were crowded. One day they no longer stood up but fell over.  After a week of rain, they were pulled to avoid loss.

This is only one plant.

This is the harvest from only four shallots. How well they will store is unknown especially since they were damp. This winter even more will be planted. 

Never again will broccoli be planted for summer. That was a bad idea. It was covered with the worthless netting that the June bugs ate through last year. 

As long as it isn't touched, moved or the wind blows, it is fine. Lifting the edge to harvest was tedious and it fell apart at the slightest pressure. It kept the white moths off until the wind lifted a small corner. Broccoli will only be grown in the winter garden from now on. 

Potato vines grow tall and spread wide covering the aisle. To make it safe to walk, I use stakes with a twine support. As the potato tubers swell below ground, some rise above the surface turning green in the sunlight. To keep them shaded, pulled weeds are stuffed inside between the vines as mulch. It saves a long trip to the compost pile.  It is akin to sweeping dirt under the carpet but it works fine until the vines begin to die. Then the disheveled mess becomes evident; regardless, I consider this a great idea.

Other plants are also staked and wrapped in twine to keep the garden walkable. It only takes a few minutes and it makes my life much easier. The Purple Hull Peas must be corralled or they will take over the whole garden. This row was staked early and it is how it should work.  A good idea.

Putting two pea rows side by side and letting them both get out of control was a bad idea. By the time I got around to setting up the stakes, the space between the rows was already covered. Harvesting them is going to be a problem.

Another bad idea was rushing while planting okra. The seedlings had just emerged but as they grew, it became obvious two were different. This unknown seedling is a cucumber.  A trellis was added for it at the end of the row. 

The second seedling was transplanted into another row. It is below the garage sale purchased tennis racket hanging on the fence.  It is available at a moment's notice to swat white moths. Bill is keeping a running total and he has killed 40 already this season. An abundance of tools hanging everywhere saves many steps. It is a good idea. Leaving the shed door open allowing a mother bird to build a nest inside was a bad idea. The door now remains open.

It appears the mystery seedling is a cantaloupe.

The fence is a work in progress and when we find the parts, we will have gates.  It really has been the best idea ever.

Last Month's May Garden (2025)

Last Year's June Garden (2024) 

Pressing Sunflower Seeds into Cooking Oil

We no longer eat seed oils because the manufacturing process causes them to be extremely toxic. When I discovered current studies claim they probably caused my late Mother's macular degeneration blindness, I swore I would not use them at all. We now press our own oils with a Happybuy Electric Hot Oil Press/Extractor machine purchased from Amazon. It is well made, heavy duty, fully metal, and will last our family a lifetime. It is quite pricey but I consider it worth the money Reese spent for our health benefits. 

The instructions were easy...easy to get confused that is. Don't try to read into the detailed instructions too much. Just plug in, preheat for ten minutes, then press go!

Some assembly was required. At least we weren't putting together a shelf from Ikea.

We pressed 40 pounds of sunflower seeds purchased from Tractor Supply Company for less than $20 USD. On occasion we experiment with other types of seeds but sunflowers have given us the best results. It took about ten hours to process the whole bag. The machine did not overheat but ran steadily all day long. Ear plugs were not required, thankfully. We got about one and one-fourth gallons of oil from this particular bag. Fresher, higher quality seeds produce more oil. Reese experimented later with preshelled sunflower seeds to see how they compare with those in shells. They pressed faster and less waste was extruded, but the preshelled cost about 2.5 times more for the same volume of oil than those with shells. It is a choice between spending more time (with shell) or more money (preshelled).

It was tedious constantly loading the hopper every 10-15 minutes. So we placed a plastic gallon milk jug (with the top and bottom cut off) into the hopper to increase the volume of seeds. It worked surprisingly well. The spoon stirred the jammed seeds into the press. This only happened 1-2 times per load even though Reese would stir it unnecessarily to relieve boredom.

The shells were expelled from the discharge pipe and the oil dripped into a small filtered cup. It was not large enough for our purposes so we replaced it with something larger.

It seems staring at the machine made it drip faster and caused hypnotism. 

The shells were dry and crumbly when expelled. A cooled handful could easily be crushed into a third of the volume. (Reese also considered this activity entertaining.) Originally the shells dropped into a large bowl but it was changed to a clean trash bag to hold more volume. As long as the can was placed correctly and the shells were occasionally crushed down, much work was saved. It later became great mulch in the garden. 

The oil produced is full of sediments and must be filtered. It has a very distinct and overpowering taste of sunflowers and can't be used. 

We let it sit undisturbed for a month so the larger particulates would settle down and form a thick sludgy mass. The goodish oil on top was poured into a clean vessel. It was then strained through a coffee filter which was replaced 6-8 times per gallon due to quickly clogging. The filtering would still take several days. However, if you were to leave the oil undisturbed on the shelf for 3-6 months, even smaller particulates would eventually settle down. Another option is to pour the good oil off and only filter the remaining oil. The coffee filter method expedites the filtration, but waiting 6 months gives a cleaner final product.  

Reese stores the machine at his house and presses enough once a year for everyone.  Much to our surprise, this jar which was pressed two years ago has not gone rancid. Google claimed fresh pressed oil would only last 9-12 months. Our experience has blown that estimate out of the water. It has worked perfect in everything except the fresh oil's flavor interferes with some recipes and like first pressed olive oil, stings your throat. Storing it open has lessened the flavor. 

We have moved completely away from everything that has seed oils and it has not been easy. I only use high quality olive oil and my sunflower oil. I saw first hand how my Mother suffered and won't risk it happening to me or my family. Good health and vision are too valuable to risk on anything.